Of all the sequels that have come out already and those that have
yet to come out, the one film that has waited the longest to make
a comeback is the “Terminator” franchise. When the first film The
Terminator came out in ’84, it was considered a small film that starred
a then relatively small-time actor name Arnold Schwarzenneger.
Little did we know that although the film made $37M at the box
office, it
would become a cult classic with the words, “I’ll be back” made famous.
Seven years later and with modern technology put to use, the sequel T2:
Judgment Day would come out and make ten times more than its predecessor.
Arnold was already huge by then, but this film would put him in
the $20M payday range. Both films were directed by James Cameron,
who
had directed Aliens in between the films and would later go on to
direct the Oscar winning film Titanic. You would think that this
was the end of the series, since everyone involved in the production
have elevated their status in the business and wouldn’t be going back to
do another sequel. Also there was also some bickering with the
producers of the film and the studio. Now, a whopping 12 years
later, with a
staggering rumored $170M budget, including a $30M payday to Arnold,
the franchise is back less Cameron. Directed by Jonathan Mostow, T3:
Rise of the Machines, lives up to expectations with more action,
less dialogue, and more special effects, that although unoriginal,
is still captivating.

If you recall the last film, T2: Judgment Day, Arnold’s character
was burning in liquid after he had helped a young John Connor and
his mother Sara fight off the last cyborg, the T-1000, played magnificently
by Robert Patrick, and prevent Judgment Day from occurring. In T3:
Rise of the Machines, we meet up with an adult John Connor, now
played by Nick Stahl, replacing Edward Furlong. John knows his
destiny and lives “off the grid”, with no home, no phones, and
no friends. He’s tormented by nightmares that he will soon come
into contact with the cyborgs once again as predicted by his mother
years ago. Meanwhile, the latest cyborg, the T-X (Loken), has arrived
in town and is more powerful and more advanced in technology than
her predecessor. This time it’s not John she’s after, but veterinarian
Kate Brewster (Danes), who has no clue what the future holds for
her. Just as Connor and Brewster meet up with each other and figure
out they have a shared past, the T-X destructively makes her entrance
towards to Kate. Coming in to save them is an obsolete Terminator
(Schwarnegger) who looks like the old one from Connor’s last encounter
. With his help, John and Kate try to prevent this T-X
from letting the inevitable take place – that is the end of mankind
and a new breed of life, machines.

Although Cameron didn’t direct this film, sources say that he was pleased with Mostow's work. Mostow
has done an adequate job in directing a sequel that’s all about
action and less in dialogue. Let’s face it, when it’s about the
machines, how much can be said. The best and longest part of the
film is the car chase scene where Arnold and the prettiest robot
I have seen in a long time duke it out to see which one of them
can withstand so much abuse on the highway. Arnold, at the age
of 55, still proves that he can still be agile and reclaim some
Hollywood clout. It’s been “a minute” since he had a huge hit and
this film should put him back in the game. Whatever dialogue there
is in the film isn’t that great, but still manages to make the story cohesive
for you to get an understanding of what’s going on. It’s interesting
that the older Connor gets, the weaker Arnold’s character is. Stahl
and Danes are convincing enough to make their characters suitable.
As the new machine, Kristanna Loken should garner enough attention
to be the talk of the summer. She doesn’t have much to say, but
look at what Robert Patrick made out of his role in T2. It’s
been 12 years since he made his entrance in the industry, and he’s
been on the X-Files and is currently on screen in the new Charlie’s
Angels film. Loken presents a new breed of machines- female, unsuspecting,
and dangerously destructive. The one flaw in the film is that the
music lacks emotion. In the first two films, the music carried
the emotion the films didn’t present since it was mostly action-sequenced.
In this film, Marco Beltrani’s score isn’t as pulling as Jerry
Goldsmith’s theme to the first 2 films. T3: Rise of the Machine is
a fast paced film that will ensure the fans that Arnold’s back.